brown algae on my toadstool leather

[misskeeter2766]

My toadstool leather (which is fairly new-got it 4 days ago) appears unhappy. It has not extended all of its polyps, and even looks like there is some brown algae growing on it (thanks to me and my dosing/overdosing of filter feeder food...there is now way too much of the brown stuff in the tank grr) ...

I am trying to do water changes to lower the nitrates.. they are at about 10-20, while ammonia and nitrites are zero. (again... thanks to the filter feeder food... perfect water parameters till I added that)

pH is a LITTLE low (buying some buffer today), but other than that.. all water parameters are good...

 

[Zer0]

Why are you using the filter feeding food again? Also, skip the pH buffer. You can raise the pH naturally without having to use chemicals. Can you tell us exactly how low it is? Try pointing your powerheads towards the surface to get more surface agitation.

 

[misskeeter2766]

I was told I needed the filter food for my feather duster and for the toadstool leather.

the pH right now is 7.8.

just changed the output to point towards the surface.. it's moving now. lol

 

[Zer0]

Told by who? Last i checked feather dusters do just fine in aquariums without supplemental feedings. I never fed my feather dusters anything and they were doing just fine until my nassarius snails demolished them for some reason. Feather dusters will catch any particles floating in the water column from when you feed your fish, and other small particles that normally float around in the water column. You do not need to feed your feather dusters.

Assuming you have the proper lighting to even keep the toadstool, you do not need to feed it at all. It just requires medium to high levels of light to allow it to perform photosynthesis which is where it gets all its nutritional needs, and medium to strong levels of flow, but that's it. You CAN feed them as an extra.. but it is not required. If that filter feeder food is causing algae and nitrate issues i strongly suggest you stop using it, as i just said, there's nothing in your tank that REQUIRES it.

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay... I'll stop using it.

I have a 12 gallon jbj nano cube dx...

it has 2 PC 24 watt 50/50 lights.

the toadstool leather has opened up more.. moody little thing, keeps getting freaked by snails... lol... hate that I wasted money on that filter food when I didn't need it.. dont like my lfs much right now. lol.